Ethet net to fiber optic to feed your streamer

Stan,

I think your idea to place fiber between the wireless router and streamer is good.  I have tried many SFP's and devices to capture the fiber.  Keep in mind that it can good or bad depending on implementation.  Essentially everything matters from the Ethernet cables on either side, the FMC's, the SFP's, the fiber, the power supply's and electrical quality to the power supplies.

Currently single mode fiber seems to be preferred but in my system I like the Sonore SystemOptique with the upgraded OM4 multimode fiber and Finisar SFP's.  I tried the standard Sonore FMC's with their regular SFP's and use a pair of LHY 5 volt LPS's, and found the SystemOptique much better.

I have fiber in three locations in my system.

I have the Sonore FMC's between my modem and gateway router.  I also have an OpticalModule on a non-gateway router going to a switch with a SFP port then to my streamer, there is a very big improvement over Ethernet (all my Ethernet cables are SOtM dcbl-cat7 or cat7u).

I also have fiber between my streamer and DAC via another OpticalModule and SignatureRendu SE Deluxe.

It makes sense to start simple but realize there is lots to gain from tweaks.

I recently got advice from Adrian at Sonore about using longer fiber cables (10M or longer) for better sound with multimode.  Essentially a little bit of attenuation helps the SFP's as the system was built to go several hundred meters for data systems and the signal is a bit intense over very short distances.

@rikkipuu Thanks so much for the detailed advice.  

I actually went ahead and picked up some inexpensive converters on Amazon just to see if I could hear any difference, even with a cheap tweak ($80). I was pretty impressed — the background got noticeably darker, and the imaging and separation both seemed to improve. I also picked up a bit of a wider soundstage.

That modest experiment inspired me to pull the trigger on the Sonore opticalModule Deluxe, Linear Power Supply and Fiber Ethernet Converter Bundle from Small Green Computer — about $800 all in. Since I listen to vinyl around 90% of the time, I think that's probably where I'll land on the price/benefit curve.

Thanks again to everyone who helped me out.

"I think your idea to place fiber between the wireless router and streamer is good."

I agree and use fiber to optically isolate my server and my streamer, both of which are connected to my network through a switch.  I optically isolate the server from the switch and router with two typical fiber converters, both powered by linear 5V supplies, and isolate the streamer by 15M of fiber optic cable from the SFP in the switch to the input of my streamer, which accepts a fiber optic input.  Finisar SFP modules are used in both the switch and the streamer. 

Cat 8 and SFP is the way to go. I recommend Ampcom Cat 8 cables with their superbly made tooless RJ45 plugs and SFP modules. 

@brighamdoc 

Look into AOCs (Active Optical Cables) for cost-effective fiber runs. The GBICs are manufactured and tested together with the fiber as one inseparable unit. I run them from my copper switch directly into my Lumin U2. Lumin connected to MSB DAC over MSB ProUsb which is USB > Fiber > DAC where I also use an AOC.

https://www.fs.com/products/74607.html